SANTA SMITH'S NAIRN WALK FOR NUMPTIES

Now 'twas the season of goodwill and excess and the Christmas quiz walk in Nairn was no exception this year. The quiz was devised by Jim and Jacque and involved groups of dinosaurs starting at different locations in Nairn and finding their way to the pub for lunch by use of clues. This was confusing for the majority of those present as some of them are followers and some are leaders, without whom the followers were lost - but that is a constant theme of the blogs this year. I was unable to be on the walk due to a very severe case of man-flu - probably the worst case ever encountered - but I got little sympathy and they carried on without me.

The photo below shows them at the start getting their instructions on where they really had to start from. Confused? You will be.

I didn't take the photos, but there are an awful lot of them showing people walking off in different directions, indicating a clear lack of leadership and management - only to be expected, I guess.

Here are David and Janet not agreeing on what to look for, or, indeed, at. However, given that David is only a very occasional dinosaur, that may be forgivable.

 

Here Dave and Sharon appear to actually be running away from Maureen, or was it the strange man with the camera they wanted away from? Don't ask me why there is a huge gap from the bottom of the previous photo to this text - I don't know and I have lost the will to live trying to fix it!!!!

Pam makes a bid for freedom, but it is short lived.

She soon realises that Nairn is bigger than the Per Una section of Marks and Spencer and runs back to join her group but she does look to be in a bit of a sulk - it will be the naughty step for her when she gets home.

Agnes (another occasional dinosaur), Susan and Ann go one way.

And here they are going the other way.

And Neil goes his own way.

There was also a bit of head scratching going on. This is Robin scratching his head.....

...and this is Hugh scratching his head.....

....and Ann scratching her head.

Some people gave up on the quiz and tried something else instead. David and Pam decided they were off for the Sunday papers and a quiet seat by the fire in the pub. Jim was trying desperately to get them to stay and carry on - there were only 47 more clues to get!

That did it - they were off.

Hugh and Mac decided to try carol singing. You'll notice no-one opened the door to offer them money or some other form of good cheer.

Ann, Agnes and Susan tried the same trick, but that only brought on Jacque's Muttley impressions.

Jim did his naked puppet joke - only Jacque laughed and she had to, or else.

Dave, Maureen and Sharon then asked one of the locals for some answers.

It took them some time to realise that it was a sculpture and not just some morose Nairnite who wouldn't give them the time of day. Dave was particularly confused because this was the sort of treatment he had got when he turned up in his jeans to play golf at Nairn West the year before.

Sharon went so far as to hang around on street corners - not a lot of business about it would seem.

Even when she used discount tactics, she only attracted the strange guy with the video camera who had some very weird requests.

In the end, the cat won the quiz because it asked the right questions - and you know what curiosity did for the cat - just a couple of more steps and it will be right under the car.

They did, in fact, make it back to the pub for Christmas lunch where Jim told them all about his encounter with the woman on the street corner.

Meanwhile Maureen asked Sharon what the problem had been on the corner. You can see the answer. (in fact this photo is of Ann's right arm, but it is my blog and I can use whatever poetic license I want).

 Time for another quiz - Spot Bob - eventually won by Janet - and no I haven't forgotten the prize on offer, well not yet I haven't.

David and Pam did make it to the pub and found the papers.

It looks like they all had a really good time - well done to the Smiths for organising it all.

You may have noticed that Sue and Charlie were not there. That was because they were awaiting the birth of their first grandchild. It didn't happen that day, but it did happen soon after and they are the proud grandparents of baby James Charlie. Congratulations to them and to the parents Ailie and Wayne.